Appointment Of The Secretary For Internal Affairs

The State
Services Commissioner, Michael Wintringham, announced today
the appointment of Peter Hughes as the Secretary for
Internal Affairs and chief executive of the Department of
Internal Affairs. Mr Hughes - who is currently the interim
chief executive of the Health Funding Authority - has more
than 15 years experience in senior operational management
and policy advice positions in the State sector.

Mr
Hughes will take up the role on Monday, 4 December. Mr
Hughes's appointment follows the departure of the current
Secretary for Internal Affairs, Roger Blakeley. Dr Blakeley
has been appointed the chief executive of the Porirua City
Council.

Mr Hughes has held a series of senior roles in
social services. He has been a Deputy Director-General of
Health, with responsibility for monitoring and improving
the performance of health service providers and
contractors. He was previously the General Manager -
Implementation at the Ministry of Health, with
responsibilities that included aspects of regulation and
licensing, and the development and implementation of policy
in disability support services, personal health services,
and mental health services. In that role, Mr Hughes was
responsible for 220 Ministry staff and an operating budget
of $25 million.

In the early 1990s, Mr Hughes was the
southern regional manager of the Income Support service of
the Department of Social Welfare. He was responsible for
1,000 staff working in 21 offices. Under Mr Hughes's
leadership, the southern region effected major improvements
in frontline service.

Mr Hughes has a Masters in Public
Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University. He studied for that degree while on a
Harkness Fellowship, and was among the top students who
graduated from the Kennedy School in 1993. He has a BA from
Victoria University of Wellington.

Mr Hughes was a member
of the change team on targeting of social assistance that
was established by the newly-elected Government in 1990. In
1991-92 Mr Hughes took a leading role in the reorganisation
of the Department of Social Welfare. The reogranisation saw
the department shift from a conventional, departmental
structure to a series of business units.

Mr Wintringham
said Mr Hughes brought to Internal Affairs a combination of
experience in operational management and policy. "Mr
Hughes's experience, as an operational manager and as a
policy advisor, reflects the nature of the Department of
Internal Affairs - a department that provides services to
citizens and policy advice to Ministers.

"Mr Hughes has a
track record of successful management in operations and
policy," Mr Wintringham said.

The Department of Internal
Affairs has about 1000 staff and annual expenditure of $167
million. It provides policy advice to Ministers (including
on local government, censorship, national identity, ethnic
affairs, and citizenship), regulatory services in gaming
and censorship, and it issues documents of national
identity. The department has overall responsibility for
support services provided to Executive government, and it
provides services in community development, including
managing lottery grant applications. The Ministry for
Emergency Management is part of the department.

Mr
Wintringham said that Brenda Tahi, who has been the general
manager, strategic management support, at Internal Affairs,
would be the acting chief executive at Internal Affairs
until 4
December.

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